Part D helps generics eat into brand name heartburn drug market share

NEW YORK With Medicare Part D’s prescription drug plans seeing an increase in enrollment in 2006, sales of heartburn medications rose as well, according to the Associated Press. The plans, though, focus on generic medications like Prilosec’s omeprazole over such market giants as Protonix and Nexium.

Heartburn medications were the second largest class of drug by sales and grossed almost $14 billion last year. The IMS reports that Part D had such an effect on the amount of generic omeprazole sold in 2006, "that the plan’s use of the drug exceeded the proton pump inhibitor market by 11 percent.

The heartburn market will only get more cluttered with drugs in the future, as not only brand name drugs will compete with each other and generics, but generics will also be in competition with one another with the final approval granted to Teva Pharmaceuticals to release a generic version of Protonix.